Jazz's Ostertag Apologizes for Outburst

Published 6:00 pm, Tuesday, December 10, 2002

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Greg Ostertag apologized to his Utah Jazz teammates for his outburst during a game with the Los Angeles Lakers in which he charged a referee and was ejected.

Ostertag was fined $7,500 by the NBA on Monday.

"I hurt the team. I do apologize to my teammates for that," Ostertag said. "But at the same time, the way that game started off, I had a good notion I probably wouldn't have been in there anyway because I probably would have been in foul trouble. I just didn't think I got a fair shake."

Utah coach Jerry Sloan liked what he saw in Ostertag's display.

"It was good to see that fire in Greg. I've been waiting seven years for that," Sloan said. "I felt good about it. Somewhere along the line, you've got to say OK, I'm going to fight. He stood up and fought a little bit."

During Sunday's loss to Los Angeles, Ostertag and Shaquille O'Neal got tied up under Utah's basket two minutes into the game. Believing O'Neal should have been called for a foul, Ostertag shouted at referee Derrick Stafford, and kept shouting as Stafford called a technical. Ostertag charged Stafford, who called him for a second technical.

"The way stars are treated in this league, it's just unreal," Ostertag said. "You have guys who aren't stars out there busting their tails, and they either get no calls or calls that shouldn't be called.

"I have nothing against Shaq; he's a good player, deserves the credit he gets for being the guy he is," he added. "But at the same time, a lot of stars in this league are very, very well protected. Guys like me _ I'm not a star _ they're out here just trying to do their best against guys like him, and they get ticky, ticky fouls. That's just not right."